Mage's Association
The Mage's Association (魔術協会, Majutsu Kyōkai) is an international, self-preservative and self-defense organization formed by practitioners of magecraft for the purpose of controlling, concealing, and developing Magecraft. It is said to transcend nationality and genre of magecraft, but that is in name only. After having existed for many years, it was decided around the Middle Ages by those who foresaw the decline of Magecraft that in order to preserve their power Thaumaturgy should drift apart from society and become a secret known only by a necessary minimum number of people. It has many laboratories and research bodies that seek to advance the progress of Thaumaturgy, as well as institutions that transmit their secrets to the next generation. Although the emphasis lies on the pursuit of knowledge, the Association also seeks to increase its own military strength and reserves the use of force to protect itself from entities that threaten its existence, such as the Holy Church, other mage organizations, supernatural forces seeking to punish mankind for meddling with areas that should not be touched, and individuals who hunt what which they consider taboo. Like the developing of a Reality Marble or for researching into vampirism. The Association has set up research institutions and established and enforces laws that forbid the criminal use of magecraft in order to promote the development, or perhaps regression, of magecraft. The Association is mainly concerned with the preservation and concealment of Magecraft in criminal aspects. They do not care about hideous crimes committed by magi so long as they are not a threat that might reveal the existence of Thaumaturgy to the common public. Internal Workings The Mage’s Association is divided into three main branches: Clock Tower, Atlas and the Sea of Estray. Ever since Clock Tower became the official headquarters, the Three Great Branches as they are called started to drift apart from each other. Many systems to rank their members exist within the Association. One of them is seven-rank system that serves to grade one’s capacities as a Magus. The top rank is called Grand. Mature Magi without any outstanding powers such as Lord El-Melloi II are around the 4th rank, while complete amateurs and students that just started learning such as Ayaka Sajyou belong the 7th bottom rank. Touko Aozaki rose to the rank of Master (not the Heaven’s Feel ones) when she was 20 years old, while Satsuki Kurogiri of Atlas was the youngest to achieve the same feat at 15 years old. Magi with extraordinary powers receive titles according to a color system and those who receive one of the three primary colors (Red, Blue and Yellow) are acknowledged as being among the greatest of their time. It follows with the secondary colors Orange, Purple, Green and Black. The further down you go, the less your rank is. Note that there is no rule about only one person for each color. The Association will, without any stinginess, award a color to you if you’re a magus of great stature or one with an unusual talent. Finally, the Noble Colors system is used for the classification of special abilities related to Magecraft, such as Mystic Eyes. As long as he/she does not possess a Sealing Designation, a Magus may leave the Association at any time without facing any restrictions. However, this is rarely done, since the Association provides its members with great amount of resources, stored knowledge and other benefits. And so many Mages from all over the world gather and devote themselves day and night to the study of Magic, while at the same time, are busily tripping over and being tripped over by other factions and competing for power and budget. The organization is anything but harmonious and has a complicated bizarre structure, but the magical research there is without doubt the leading edge. Despite its academia facet, the Magi of the Association rarely share the result of their own researches between each other. External Relationships The Mage’s Association and the Holy Church have a non-aggression agreement between each other for quite a while now, but armed conflict still happen often in a off-the-records fashion. Atlas however, is case in itself. The Association has deemed the Magic Foundation of the Middle East and the philosophies of magecraft from the Far East incompatible with its teachings, and both schools conversely reject the Association. It has been working towards at least building a stance of neutrality between them. The mage organizations of Japan also did not join the Association. Gransurg Blackmore of the Twenty-seven Dead Apostle Ancestors cooperates with the Mage's Association. Category:Group & Organizations Category:Melty Blood Category:M.U.G.E.N